


An Uncertain Betrothal

by AppleSoda



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
Genre: Adventure, All the Princesses have a group text in this, Alternate Universe - Canon, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Quests, boy did i pick two people in a very awkward combination to write about, lets see how this pans out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-01-06
Packaged: 2019-09-24 13:44:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17101703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AppleSoda/pseuds/AppleSoda
Summary: When the King of Renais falls ill, Eirika receives word that an herb that might save him lurks in the Darkling Woods. To travel undetected, she falsifies an engagement with her oldest friend, Prince Lyon of Grado. As the pair and a few knights journey out towards the king's last hope, trials lay ahead to test their mettle, and their patience for one another.





	1. Prologue: Desperate Measures

“You haven’t gotten sleep in ages. Let me take watch for a bit.” Eirika felt a hand on hers wake her from the brief seconds she had spent in slumber. As her eyes fluttered open, she looked up into the concerned eyes of Prince Lyon of Grado.

 

Word had gotten out that the king of Renais was ailing. Though he kept it a secret from all but his most trusted members of the household, time had only worstened his condition. In secret, healers were dispatched to his side, plying a number of healing spells and remedies from their nations’ apothecaries. But slowly, the disease took his appetite and energy, dimming the spirits of his two children.The prince of Grado had been on a journey to buy rare books in Carcino, and had stopped to pay well wishes to the king.

 

“I assure you, I’m fine. I’ll be a moment longer, Lyon.” Mustering her remaining strength, Eirika sat up by her father’s bedside. “He needs me. You would do the same in my situation, wouldn’t you?”

 

“Of course. Well, let me sit with you, if I may. ” It soothed her to hear her even-tempered friend’s voice at a time when nothing seemed to go right. Some days ago, Ephraim, hearing a rumor of some sort of herb that grew in Grado, had stormed off on horseback leading a band of knights. Always the romantic soul, her brother had charged off trying to find the impossible if it meant saving their father. But that was always the way that Ephraim had preferred to do things, ever since the three of them were young and learning their letters and basic sparring skills.

 

Hearing the slow, steady breaths emanate from the king calmed Eirika. It was a sign that his fight wasn’t over yet, no mattter how much sickness was something that couldn’t be slain with sword, lance, or tome. But what would it mean for her own heart, hurt as it was, to be in any state but in shambles?

 

“Lyon’s right. You can’t work yourself to death. King Fado would never accept that!” Tana of Frelia frowned. “I swear, you and Ephraim put people before yourselves far too often.” Eirika’s twin in question had thrown himself into training. The last she had seen him, he went out for a ride, leaving only a simple note that promised that he would return in a few days. That was a week ago, and she was beginning to become worried about his whereabouts, in addition to every other thing that had gone wrong in the castle since. It was as if she had inherited the Crown without authority or the strength to use it. 

 

Eirika slowly blinked ftigue from her eyes as she rose from the king’s bedside, glancing at both Lyon and Tana. “Mmm, Is it that bad?”

 

“Yes! You haven’t moved from that spot for a whole day. He won’t die yet, okay? We just have to trust that he’s fighting.” Tana steered her away from the bed. As they departed the king’s bedchamber, Lyon looked towards an advancing figure in the castle hallway. It was a young woman, clad in the colors of Grado and wearing a pegasus knight’s uniform.

 

“A messenger? At this hour?”

 

“It’s late afternoon,” Lyon pointed out gently. The curtains around King Fado’s rooms had been drawn closed. One physician was convinced that sunlight was the cause of the disease. While Eirika doubted the veracity of his knowledge, she nonetheless hadn’t seen sunlight for a while as her father rested. Only the meals that she had shared, sparse and unappetizing no matter what the cooks sent up, marked the passage of time.

 

“Oh, I see…Where has the time gone?” She murmured.

 

“You. Need. to go. to sleep.” Tana insisted, punctuating each part of the sentence sharply. “I will take you to your chambers if I have to tie you to a pegasus and have her ferry you there. Lyon, why don’t you check on that messenger? That way she can know what happened the first instance she awakes.” Like the best-seasoned drill sargeants of the Frelian military, she rose to her feet and shot the servants around them a determined look.

 

= = =

 

Eirika blinked awake and felt only the softness of her quilts, familiar and heavy. She sat up, looking around her. She was uncertain how many hours had passed since Tana had issued her orders. As she slipped into proper clothes, she felt the ground beneath her feet to be infinitely more solid than when she had staggered into her forced nap.

 

In the common area of her chambers she found Lyon and Tana waiting for her along with three piping-hot cups of tea set out helpfully by the servants. From the looks on their faces, something had changed while she was asleep.

 

“Darkling Woods,” Lyon said. “There’s a tribe of manakete there that is said to work with our healers from time to time on finding rare plants. I’ve asked a messenger to secure permission from the dragons to enter into their lands.”

 

“Lyon, that’s wonderful news!” Excited by the prospects of a break in the search for a cure, she broke into a grin. “You didn’t have to go to such trouble to do this. I’m so grateful” She clutched his hand, giving it a gentle squeeze.

 

“I would do anything to ensure that father’s oldest friend is well. And to see you sad…er—nothing, forgive me…” A bit of color crept into his cheeks as he looked away.

 

Something caused Tana’s head to snap over. She was always alert when it came to court gossip, and Eirika wondered what had just happened. Some time she was going to find the time to learn Tana’s secrets to fend for herself in the many social engagements that they were expected to attend, as princesses of Renais and Frelia. 

 

“We’ll have to move about relatively undetected,” Lyon frowned. “That’s not easy to donowadays. We’ve had border incursions from the sea, and father’s fortified the towns and stationed generals at key checkpoints. A princess of Renais will need a reason to be traveling close to Carcino’s ports.”

 

“What if,” Tana suggested, “you pretended you were engaged to him?” She pointed over, and took a sip of tea. Eirika knew instantly that behind the delicate porcelain cup, her friend was grinning in a manner that would make the devil himself jealous.

 

“E-engaged…eurgh…” Lyon almost slumped over, having taken a larger sip of fresh tea than he had liked. “I…”

 

“That’s a silly idea, Tana. He’s gone through so much trouble already. I can’t ask him to do that as well.” She had never paid much attention to what Lyon had thought of her outside of anything but a friend and a schoolmate. But Tana’s suggestion had her looking for any reactive signs from the quiet prince, wondering just what he thought of the notion.

 

“I’m serious!”Tana exclaimed. “It’d be a wonderful way to travel as quickly as you can to Grado. Not to mention,” she added, “if you say you’re engaged, I’ve heard that villagers are eager to give you food, weapons, and all manner of items free of charge.”

 

“I don’t need things free of charge. I need my father not to die. But…time is something that’s not on our side.” Eirika’s mouth was set. She borrowed a page out of Tana’s book, and took a sip of her tea while appraising the situation. Lyon wasn’t unpleasant in the least, and he was always someone to talk to. He had been ever since her, Ephraim and him were small children.

 

But an engagement was something she had never thought of. To him, or to anyone. It was a choice that she had expected to make under quite different circumstances— at peace, with her whole life peacefully ahead of her.

 

Her own happiness, though, was something to try to put aside. She needed to keep her spirits up and do whatever she could to try to protect her father and her kingdom.

 

“I’ll be willing to do it, if he’s willing.” She answered, feeling the onset of nerves. The questions of how he acted, how he felt about her, were all things she had never given though tto before.

 

“I…Princess Tana, this is awfully deceptive. But I suppose I can try, as well.” His expression was unreadable, but at last Lyon nodded. “I will write to my father explaining the circumstances of this arrangement.”

 

“Eirika,” Tana grinned. “I’ve been prepared to do something like this for my entire life. Also, I’m writing L’Arachel to let her know I-mme-diate-ly. She’ll have so much to say!”

 

As she watched Tana bound from the room, Eirika felt a weight on her chest as if her fate had been sealed in a very bizzarre way. At last, she resigned herself to the fact that a princess was never promised consistency, for good or ill. Whatever lay ahead in matters she would settle with her blade or her heart, she would face them head-on.

 

 

 


	2. Confidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> if Lyon’s life was a whose line sketch character it would be “man trying poorly to disguise cult membership”

For months, Eirika hadn’t taken a single step outside of the residential wing of the castle. The king’s illness was a time when he and his household closed itself off from everyone but healers and the closest of friends. The prospect of leaving, even for a necessary reason, was daunting in a way that she was certain no one else would understand. She paced her chambers restlessly as her weapons were cleaned and her traveling supplies prepared.

 

Listnessness and the impending sense of grief, or something like it, had buried shards of something like lethargy in her heart. The chance of doing something about it brought about a new energy that jolted her to what was going on. She was departing her castle and her kingdom. Tana had talked her into a ridiculous falsified story that would nonetheless keep someone familiar at her side.

 

Was it selfish to want to set out for somewhere new, even if it was for her father’s sake? She twisted her hands in her lap as she waited in the War-room that King Fado had used for many years. He had held councils there and, from time to time, would balance one of his children in his lap as he moved pieces about the map that sometimes sat at the center of the table. Today the room was empty save for her, Lyon, and Seth, her father’s most trusted general.

 

“Take a few men with you. Even seasoned knights do not venture into Carcino and Rausten’s mountains alone,” Seth chided. The tall, red-headed knight loomed over her and Lyon, even though Grado’s crown prince was a full head taller than her. Her father’s most trusted general had always been a voice of caution during meetings where he gave reports and war councils. Even when the situation seemed dire, nothing kept him from thinking through every possibility that could happen. That was what had earned him the king’s trust over soldiers twice and thrice his age.

 

The Silver knight wasn’t without his difficulties to deal with, though. Someone like Seth would likely look at her and see someone different from her brother, who would charge off into conflict at first provocation. He would see someone who couldn’t handle a problem without being guided and protected.

 

“For Renais, we must retrieve this medicine.” Eirika looked into the eyes of her father’s most trusted general. “Sir Seth, your duty is to protect the King in my absence. Do you understand?” Normally, she didn’t speak to him so formally. Even less frequently were the occasions where shefelt comfortable enough to issue commands directly. The words were almost foreign, tumbling out one after another. But at some point, at some place in time, she would have to get used to issuing commands and planning ahead. 

 

“Very well, Milady.” Hesitation still weighed down knight’s assent.

 

“He’s right in that we have to be cautious,” Lyon nodded. “The Manakete do not let people into their grounds easily. They know how to navigate the woods’ dangers. We do not.”

 

Eirika had heard their tutors describe the tribesmen, listening intently with Lyon during lessons while Ephraim only took the occasional note, looking forward to taking up the lance and getting outside again. The dragon-shifting guards of Darkling woods protected their lands and their secrets with utmost care. In a way, she knew how they felt in looking over the frail, sleeping form of her father. If anyone had dared draw near that she didn’t trust, she would have drawn her sword and run through the intruder without hesitation. Such a ferocious assumption startled her as the notion came to mind.

 

“Passage to the woods requires a guide of Caer Pelyn,” Lyon continued. “Only they and the Manakete themselves know how to enter and navigate the forest’s dangers. And unfortunately, Grado has only enough goodwill to enter the woods without harm from the tribe. We’re not so friendly that they’ll help”

 

“You’ve chosen a fine navigator as a betrothed,” Seth nodded approvingly. “But Princess Eirika, I trust that you can keep Prince Lyon safe as well.”A hint of a smile graced his usually taciturn features. He had been a proud tutor overseeing her fencing lessons, and stories were already beginning to spread that Renais’ princess was quicker with a blade than anyone else in the kingdom.

 

Seth’s mention of ‘betrothed’ had given her pause. Up until then, she had forgotten the circumstances of their travel. What did Lyon think of the arrangement? Betrothals, as Eirika understood them, could range from something detestable to a political arrangeent. But Lyon was someone she had known for a very long time, and

 

That was more than Eirika could say for other matches that she had heard word of.For the briefest of moments, she considered what it would feel like to hold him close, to search Lyon’s face and see exactly what he felt. Then it passed, and she returned to the task at hand. For his part, the prince’s features were unreadable as he pored over the details of a map, chatting quietly with Seth and a few other soldiers.

 

She raised her hand to get their attention. “Seth, I will send word in ten days when we arrive at Port Kiris. Hopefully,” she added with a grin, “you’ll hear from us in good spirits. I expect a report on how father fares.”

 

Eirika knew herself to be capable of both work and the necessary gossip any noblewoman needed to survive. There were plenty of weapons, after all, that didn’t require budging the blade at her side a single inch. Those were the problems that would take far longer to solve, and the questions that, until time had passed and she had the will to face them, would take far longer to solve.

 

= = =

 

Ewan had been given very careful instructions. And he had followed them. Well, for the most part, anyways.

 

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Asked the Great Dragon. “We’ve already searched the docks area this morning…” She peered anxiously across dockside streets, clutching the cloak she wore tighter against herself. That way, her wings continued to be hidden from view from passerby.

 

The day had started off with the two of them splitting off from Ewan’s teacher for a very important mission. Some time ago, the dragonstone, a totem that the Great Dragon had carried on her, had been stolen. Ewan’s heart had soared at the idea. If he had helped her get it back, it would helped him prove himself as a mercenary, and as a mage. Even Tethys and Saleh would believe that he was finally ready to take on missions by himself.

 

Or at least, that had been the plan. But it was mid-afternoon, and he and Lady Myrrh had been wandering about for hours, to no avail.

 

“Maybe we’re never going to find it…” He groaned. It was so simple, to find a stone that shone with a soft light whenever Lady Myrrh cupped it in the palm of her hands to meditate.

 

“No,” the manakete shook her head. “I can still sense it, for now.” She closed her eyes for a moment, and nodded. “It’s towards that building over there, Ewan. Let’s go.” Ewan felt the gentle tug on his hand, but ran off towards the source of the relic as fast as he could. If word of anything that they had done would get back to Saleh, then that was the end of any attempts he would have as an escort to dragons for quite some time.

 

Port Kiris wasn’t so large that the stone had disappeared for good. If there was a place to find it, Ewan was certain that he would go through hell itself if it meant that Lady Myrrh could recover what she had lost. He reached for the entrance of the warehouse, certain that it would provide answers to everything they needed.

 

= = =

 

Lyon had spoken to the princess of Frelia on a few occasions, and found her to be cheerful, bright, but, as was the case with most people, not Eirika. He had never thought much of her, and her brother Innes had something of a permanent scowl fixed upon his face, mostly aimed at Ephraim.

 

Unfortunately, he had underestimated Princess Tana of Frelia greatly.

 

“I want to hear all the details, Princess Eirika! Oh, this is the most wonderful news!” A merchant almost upended the bolts of silk her assistant carried as she bustled over.

 

Truly, it was a stunning innovation of human capability that every fishmonger, merchant, and passerby knew of the engagement that he was supposed to be convincingly faking. It was a wonder that From the style of the woman’s dress, she was a citizen of Renais on her way to sea. In the distance, he could see a clutch of clerics wearing the temple garments of a church in Grado lingering about. Instinctively, Lyon drew himself away, uncertain of what he could say. He was never a good interlocutor, even when it came to his father’s generals, advisors, and audiences.Wherever Eirika and Ephraim had excelled at leading, charming or otherwise earning the love of their people, he could not. It really was the fault of Frelia’s princess that he had been pulled into a scheme that was ridiculous.

 

Lyon had wanted, in his heart of hearts, to try to work up the courage to court Eirika. But not under the eye of every single subject, courtier, and noble of Magvel.

 

“I assure you, we will be sending out messages about the betrothal in due time. Isn’t that right?” She looked towards him, beaming as if nothing in the world had gone wrong. That was a gesture of strength, he thought, and one that was devastatingly difficult when every moment had been about her father.

 

Lyon nodded, realizing just what he had to have promised in ferrying Eirika to the woods. “We are truly fortunate to be listening to your kind words. Please take care in your travels to Rausten.” As the woman and her assistant delightedly sprinted off, likely to tell everyone else in the harbor, he gently laid a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Are you alright?” He asked.

 

“I think my voice is about to go,” Eirika laughed. Indeed, her words crackled a little with exhaustion. But she was something other than bereft or tired, and the sight of her out in the sun again was something that made the price ofmaking up a thousand platitudes worth it. Of that, Lyon was certain.

 

“Lyon, is that a…sound coming from behind that door?” Eirika frowned. She placed an arm on the steward that had been shuffling them towards the ship.

 

A heavy padlock rattled violently against the shut doors of a warehouse. Pounding and the sound of muffled voices rang out from behind it. Nobody but the two royals and their steward were in the dockside area. The knights had been sent off somewhere to prepare luggage and goods to be brought to Rausten and Jehanna as a sign of goodwill, to make the ruse of the pretend betrothal seem all the more real.

 

“I don’t recall cargo that moves and rattles the padlock of a door like that,” Lyon remarked. “At least, nothing legitimate.”

 

“I would agree. Could we take a moment to check?” Eirika asked the steward.

 

“Princess, the ship is about to depart. If the winds aren’t good, we’ll miss the opportunity to set sail today.” The older man fussed slightly. “I can tell the knights to put off lifting anchor for a little, but the sailors won’t behappy.”

 

“I have a spell to conjure winds,” Lyon said lightly. “For now, we check what’s behind that door.” They watched the steward wander off towards the ship docked at the far end of the port, which was festooned with the colors of Renais and Grado. The path before them was simple. Check the warehouse, and make it to the ship.

 

“Where,” a rough bandit’s voice growled. “Do you think the two of you are going? This is private property.”

 

But of course, things were never as simple as one believed. Lyon’s teachers, tutors and fellow shamans knew that by heart.

 

**Author's Note:**

> So the comment about engagements getting free stuff is true, and I think someone tried it once with a fake spouse in a registry? The lesson here is that every season is grift season.


End file.
